The Role of Nurse Practitioners in Substance-Abuse Relapse Mitigation

 

Abstract
This paper explores ten published articles that report on results from research conducted on the factors which influence post-treatment relapse for substance-abuse patients. The thesis of the present work is that nurse practitioners (NPs), by virtue of their roles and standing, may be positioned to take into account relapse factors in developing long-term programs aimed at mitigating relapse rates. Specifically, the 12-month period immediately following patient discharge from treatment programs is of interest given the high rates of relapse during this time. The literature review indicates that there are many ways in which NP-driven programs may mitigate relapse, by paying attention to factors such as the high probability of relapse soon after treatment, the higher probability of relapse in women with histories of trauma, the near-determinative factor of brain atrophy, and the importance of prolonged and long-term post-treatment involvement in patients’ recoveries. Thus, this paper’s conclusion is that there is significant potential for NPs playing roles in mitigating post-treatment relapse for substance-abuse patients, through direct care and administrative work.

Keywords: nurse practitioners, substance abuse, relapse, treatment

The Role of Nurse Practitioners in Substance-Abuse Relapse Mitigation
Approximately two-thirds of substance-abuse treatment program patients relapse within the year following program completion, with the majority of those patients relapsing within the first month following discharge (Brecht & Herbeck, 2014, p. 7). This paper is concerned with the role of nurse practitioners (NPs) in mitigating post-treatment relapse for substance-abuse patients. NPs may mitigate relapse through direct care of addicted patients and through administrative work in initiating or developing long-term programs aimed at mitigating relapse rates. A comprehensive review of the existing substance-abuse relapse literature supports the potential for NP-driven programs concerned with mitigating relapse in the 12 months immediately following patient discharge from treatment programs.

Literature Review

Relapse – Occurrence and Cycles
Understanding the nature of relapse, and not just that it occurs, is vital to mitigating the probability of relapse and reducing the time taken to return to treatment from relapse. Much research (Brecht & Herbeck, 2014; Scott et al.,